Responding to a perceived need for a centralized and interactive community that brings together all those who develop, manage, optimize, and envision how organizations interact with their customers, the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) launched April 27 with more than 20 companies as founding corporate members.

CXPA will support the professional development of its members by providing research and education, establishing standards, offering networking and career opportunities, promoting the industry, and creating a better understanding of the customer experience. Bruce Temkin, managing partner of the Temkin Group, and Jeanne Bliss, president of CustomerBliss, are the organization’s founders. Temkin will serve as its first chairman and Bliss will be its vice chair.

Temkin called the launch "an exciting moment" for what he considers a "burgeoning" career path—the customer experience manager. "There are a growing number of professionals with responsibility for growing the customer experience," he said during a Webcast to announce the association’s launch. "We're getting recognition that good customer experience does not happen haphazardly."

Bliss agrees, noting that companies today are struggling with sustaining good customer experiences over the long term. They are also using good customer experience as a differentiator, she added.

"We are excited to be one of the founding corporate members of this great organization," said Syed Hasan, CEO at ResponseTek, in a statement. "We are positive that the CXPA will set the precedence for industry best practices."

"The formation of CXPA fills a void in the customer experience arena, and will provide a single, collective voice to guide its evolution as a highly respected profession," Temkin said. "Our mission is to help CXPA members—across all fields and vertical markets—make customer experience management an integral part of how their companies operate, and to enable them to embed its skill set across their organizations. Our goal is to break down the work, create standards and best practice approaches, and transfer those skills across the CXPA network."

CXPA will also establish education, marketing, membership, networking, and professional development committees. Additionally, CXPA is scheduling a series of webinars throughout the summer on a variety of customer experience-related topics.